Vektor Drenn begins his journey getting through the Drenn Portal. His home's portal was on the ground while the island's portal was practically on a wall, so his body follows a horizontal trajectory until the gravity takes effect and he falls on the ground while sitting.

After standing up and taking dirt off his pants, the young man sees himself in the middle of the forest around Dawn Plateau. Without knowing where to go next, he walks to the tallest point of the forest, where he sees some kind of altar about 2 km away from him.

After about 20 minutes of walking, he finally gets out of the forest and arrives at the altar, where he finds a pedestal...

What? Usually pedestals from altars have swords embedded in them, mostly legendary, mystic or at least mysterious swords, but looks like that's not the case here...

"If you're looking for the Burning Silver, I have already removed that from the altar."

"!!"

Surprised, Vektor instinctively turns to his side and finds, outside the altar, a long-haired young man wearing a vest with its dorsal elongated like a cape.

"It's you! The one who attacked me that day!"

"?!"

"Don't think you're gonna be that lucky this time!"

"W- Wait! That's a misunderstanding!"

"(Indeed, listening closely, his voice does sound kinda different... Guess I'm fine for now...)

Right, if you're not him, that's nice. If that's the case... then who are you?"

"I am... the last from a lineage of warriors responsible for the safety of Netern Island... The swordsman, Kder."

Kder is a 16-year-old young man with light skin, thin face, green eyes, long straight hair tied in a ponytail, and a simple golden earring on his left ear. He wears light blue pants and a white sweater, both of them made of cotton. His sweater is lighter than usual and is loosened on his wrists. Over his sweater, he wears a light blue vest with white details and an extension on its back, making it look like a cape. Beneath his vest on his back there are two scabbards, each one of them holding a different legendary sword.

The swordsman removes one of these scabbards and wields the sword inside of it, while saying:

"Before anything, I need to give you the Burning Silver. This sword in my hands, able to absorb the energy of the Etykirans... Even though I'm a powerful swordsman, only someone from your family has what is needed to use this legendary sword to its full potential."

Kder throws the Burning Silver at the altar. The sword spins through the air until it perfectly stucks into the pedestal. The swordsman then steps back while saying:

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"Go ahead, remove the sword from its pedestal."

Vektor firmly wields the Burning Silver and slowly pulls it from the pedestal, feeling in his soul the power he holds in his hand... As expected from a legendary sword, it's really heavy. One can say that his first goal was obtained, as anticlimatic as that may be. His head remains empty while Kder congratulates him:

"From now on, this is your sword: the Burning Silver!"

"Great... But what now?"

"Your sword is a weapon channeled to the power of the Drenn family. As you don't live on this island, your power must be raw for now. So this sword will seal your powers and control them as long as you hold it in your hands. Even more, as your power is channeled to the blade, you can use your flames as attacks through the blade."

"Really convenient... I like it."

"Starting from here, you must explore Netern Island and find the other 4 Etykiran apprentices, so then the Burning Silver will absorb their power and nullify your curse."

"...

(Oh, that's right, I forgot... I should ask for his help now. Don't wanna take the additional risk to get lost after all... But wait, I didn't even say anything about my curse yet, so how does he know...?)"

"Here's a gift as my way to say welcome. It is high quality, and it will help you to save your energy."

Kder throws the scabbard that was holding the Burning Silver to Vektor's arms. Then Vektor puts it on his back after dropping his backpack on the ground.

"Well, thanks..."

"I wish you luck, apprentice Drenn."

"My name is Vektor!"

"Vektor Drenn... That's a nice name."

"(Seems like this guy didn't know my name... That's good, more proof he's not lying.)"

"Therefore, apprentice Vektor Drenn, farewell..."

"...Wait!"

"...?"

"(I should really ask for his help right now, I might not get another chance after this. However, most importantly...)

You... What's your connection with the guy who cast this curse on me?"

"Ah, of course... You deserve to know..."

"..."

"That was the swordsman Maken. The greatest warrior among the Dark Soldiers of Vak-Oh, whom he calls lord."

"Vak-Oh... I've read about him... He's an enemy of the people of this island, right?"

"Yes, but there's more than that. Vak-Oh is an immensely powerful being who's a threat not only to this island but to everyone outside as well. Something way beyond what we could currently handle of."

"Well, that explains why this Maken guy is so powerful... No, wait, don't dodge from my question! What I wanna know is why you're so similar to each other!"

"Long story short, Maken was originally created by Vak-Oh to counter the Kder of ancient times. Me and the current Maken, however, were both raised on Kder Island, next to Netern Island. We knew each other since we were kids..."

"...I'm listening. Continue."

"But then he surrended himself to Vak-Oh, and I fought against him. I've removed the Burning Silver from the pedestal so I could give it to you before he had a chance to steal it. But you took way more time than I expected..."

"Hehe, sorry... I just had to take some time for healing, and..."

"Indeed, my patience was at its limit..."

"(...Huh? Now that was some strange voice... Didn't even sound like...)

...!!"

Only then Vektor notices Kder bleeding from his mouth, and his eyes getting increasingly dazzled.

Kder falls on his knees after some broken blade gets removed from inside his back, and his body collapses shortly afterwards, thus revealing the identity of his attacker. Vektor's fright suddenly turns into silent rage:

"So... you're the swordsman Maken?"

"Yes... We meet again, apprentice Drenn..."

"Indeed..."

"But you really took way too long. If I had to wait another day, I would have to kill you in your own house, and that would be a lot of work... To let you know, I was given a deadline of 7 days after that incident to eliminate you. Which means today is my second to last day. I could even let you enjoy your last day of life, but I don't want to depend on my luck and look for you on my own later. So unfortunately, you must die right here."

"Got it, thanks for the explaining... Well, not that I would just let you kill me anyways."